Placing a single amplifier in front of an operational amplifier will increase the gain of the operational amplifier; however the operational amplifier is likely to become unstable as the gain is increased. Operational amplifiers are compensated for a specific gain and phase margin. As gain is increased, phase margin is decreased, which results in poor performance stability of the operational amplifier. Utilizing a multi-stage amplifier (in place of the single amplifier) to increase gain results in similar stability problems.